This is a biography of the musician Charles Avison (1709-1770) who became England's most important 18th-century concerto composer and, through enterprise and determination, made Newcastle upon Tyne England's greatest provincial music centre of the time. It is a lively account, written for the layman, and with full sources. It includes a description of the activities of the Newcastle Waits of the time, who included Richard Avison, Charles's father. He [Richard] was not only a wait but a church organist and probably responsible for the musical education of Charles and another talented son, William Avison, organist at Hull. The Newcastle Waits were recruited to play in Avison's bands at subscription concerts in the town as well as for private performances at the home of a wealthy patron, George Bowes of Gibside in County Durham.